Bill Darlison: Roads for Travelling Souls

THE TIMES THEY ARE A’CHANGIN’ The man in the street does not know a star in the sky. The solstice he does not observe, the equinox he knows as little; and the whole bright calendar of the year is without a dial in his mind. (Emerson) I n The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , we read about a race of hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional beings who build a huge computer called Deep Thought to calculate the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. And the answer it comes up with is 42. [i]   Numerous theories have been advanced as to why the author, Douglas Adams, chose this number but Adams himself said that he chose it purely at random, because ‘it is a completely ordinary number, … in fact it’s the sort of number you could without any fear introduce to your parents.’ [ii] The authors of the Bible also seem to have favourite numbers but these are hardly arbitrary. The numbers 7 and 12 are almost certainly relate...

A Sudden Gleam Divine Reading:  (From  The Original Vision , (1977), by Edward Robinson , published by the Religious Experience Unit, Oxford.) The Most Profound Experience of my Life The most profound experience of my life came to me when I was very young – between four and five years old ... ... My mother and I were walking on a stretch of land in Pangbourne, Berks, known locally as ‘the moors’. As the sun declined and the slight chill of evening came on, a pearly mist formed over the ground. My feet, with the favourite black shoes with silver buckles, were gradually hidden from sight until I stood ankle deep in gently swirling vapour. Here and there just the very tallest harebells appeared above the mist. I had a great love of these exquisitely formed flowers, and stood lost in wonder at the sight. Suddenly I seemed to see the mist as a shimmering gossamer tissue and the harebells, appearing here and there, seemed to shine with a brilliant fire. Somehow, I ...

The Dude Abides When I was in Ireland recently, I came across a news headline on the Internet which intrigued me. ‘What’s the fastest-growing religion in Ireland?’ it asked. I knew that it couldn’t possibly be Unitarianism, but I thought that maybe it was Mormonism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but I was wrong. The fastest-growing religion in Ireland is Dudeism. There are more Dudeist priests in Ireland than there are Catholic priests. It must be said, however, that it is not difficult to become a Dudeist priest. One doesn’t have to train for five or six years. One can do it in a minute over the Internet as I did, and I have a certificate to prove it. I can now officiate at weddings and funerals in most states of America in my capacity, not as a Unitarian minister, but as an ordained priest of the Church of the Latter-Day Dude.             But, what on earth is Dudeism? I hear you ask. Well, it is a religion (using ...